Tag Archives: social inclusion

By Kimberly Miller, Pam Scoglio and Stuart Schleien, International Journal of Volunteer Administration, July 2010 While volunteering has many advantages for the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, community and the volunteers themselves, it may emphasise social divides, as volunteers are typically people with higher income, higher education and social resources providing support for those in need. It is important to acknowledge the social risks involved and strive for inclusive volunteering. As Miller and her colleagues explain, inclusive … Continue reading →

Book by Paul Hawken. Reviewed by Jonathon Fisher. “Only connect,” wrote the British author E.M. Forster. This is the message I take from Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest, a book which has important lessons for those of us catalysing social change movements. Blessed Unrest suggests that although there are vast numbers of people and organisations who share the desire for a transition to a saner and wiser culture, most of them are not connected with each … Continue reading →

by Adam Kahane, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010. Adam Kahane spoke about Power and Love to a Sydney Leadership audience at The Benevolent Society earlier this year. After two decades of work with seemingly intractable conflicts around the world, Kahane understands the challenge of wedding principles to practicalities. He pins the failures of the Copenhagen climate change summit to bring together the greenies’ love camp with the industrialists’ power camp. Rhetorical pleas to save the planet for … Continue reading →

by Kim Jonker, The Stanford Social Innovation Review; Winter 2010. This case study follows the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) as it seeks to change the culture of the classroom across a continent with several thousand distinct ethnic groups and cultural norms. It’s well known that educating girls is one of the most effective development interventions to lift whole communities out of poverty. In the early 1990s only half of Africa’s school age girls … Continue reading →

A status report by Sandy Blackburn-Wright, Emerging Leaders for Social Change; 2010. The Big Conversation – an initiative of the Emerging Leaders for Social Change – was established in response to a void in the 2009 discussions surrounding the Global Financial Crisis. Leaders were debating the efficacy of the stimulus package, regulatory reform and other measures seemingly without reference to the values that had led us to the situation in the first place. Many believe … Continue reading →

by Sheela Patel, The Stanford Social Innovation Review; Winter 2010. Railing against the culture of measurement, Sheela Patel takes professional philanthropists to task for the “log-frame virus” which she describes as “an infection that drives funders to insist upon seeing the logical framework or business plan of an intervention, from inputs, to outputs, to outcomes.” Patel has worked for grassroots organisations in India for over three decades and is the founding director of the Society … Continue reading →

by Ingrid Burkett and Belinda Drew, A Foresters Community Finance Occasional Paper; October 2008. Foresters Community Finance of Queensland argues that the lack of access to affordable capital is the major challenge to the growth of the fourth sector in Australia. In this report, authors Burkett and Drew broaden the traditional definition of financial exclusion in Australia to include not just individuals and families but also groups and organisations such as civil society organisations, social … Continue reading →

Griffith Review, Edition 24, by Griffith University, 2009. CSI’s very own Peter Shergold and Cheryl Kernot appear in the Griffith Review’s recent issue on participation society. Both essays are reminders that structural innovation is at work in Australian society. Kernot’s essay, ‘A quiet revolution,’ is a personal reflection on a shift she sees towards a society which puts: “social value at its core.” Kernot writes about social entrepreneurship which she believes is already reshaping people’s … Continue reading →

by Peter Wilson, The Australian; May 9, 2009. Australia may have built its reputation as a society that offers a ‘fair go,’ but a recently released book challenges this selfperception. And what’s more, it says our lack of equality may be bad for our health. The Spirit Level: Why Equal Societies Almost Always do Better, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, has already stirred up debate in the United Kingdom. Now, this book has come … Continue reading →

Geoff Mulgan, Oxford University Press; 2008. Book reviewed by Peter Shergold, Chief Executive, the Centre for Social Impact Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation in London, is well-known to Australians for his active role in promoting social innovation. Already he has spoken twice at CSI events. As befits someone who has previously served as senior policy adviser both to Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, he is also a perceptive thinker on political life. A … Continue reading →

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The Centre for Social Impact can be reached on +61 2 9385 6568 or email csi@unsw.edu.au
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